The internet is an increasingly international network of computers that supports various forms and levels of communication. For instance, on the world wide web (WWW), information can be presented on universally available pages commonly known as websites. The internet also supports one-on-one communication between end-users via electronic mail, instant messaging, and voice over IP (VoIP) communication.
Increasingly, the internet is comprised of widely distributed network services such as search engines, redundant websites, and VoIP points of presence. These network services are deployed at many physical geographic sites but logically provide a network service. A challenge for widely deployed networked services is understanding the traffic usage patterns at all physical sites and across the entire grid of physical sites.
In order to service some internet requests, the Domain Name System (DNS) is utilized. The DNS is a distributed database system based on a client-server model. The nodes of this database are referred to as nameservers. Each domain or subdomain has one or more authoritative DNS servers that publish information about that domain and the name servers of any domains subordinate to it. The top of the hierarchy is served by servers referred to as root nameservers, that is, servers that are queried when looking up or resolving a top-level domain (TLD) name. Other internet requests include IP requests, OCSP requests, and Whois requests.
For the operator of the network services, tracking of requests is desirable. However, current systems lack the ability to provide tracking data at a level of depth desired by system operators. Thus, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems for logging internet requests and reporting information related to such internet requests.